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ncstevem
Guest
I wonder if Cardinal O’Malley will do anything about this. The school is in his diocese.
renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/100922
renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/100922
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Wowbagger
Guest
I would have allowed the article.
Catholic schools are, of course, obligated to teach the faith, to respond to questions about the faith, to raise their flocks in the faith (primarily through provision of the Sacraments), and to defend the faith when called upon.
In this case, however, we are not looking at an example of the school attacking the Faith or subverting parents’ educational authority or violating canon law. All the school did was provide a forum whereby some students – students, not teachers, not administrators – were able to express their feelings, their reactions, their life in the Catholic faith at Sacred Heart, both to fellow students and the administration of the school. This is not a comfortable thing, because these particular students’ opinions and experiences of Catholic life ranged from false at best to tragic and saddening at worst. But it is an important part of the Christian life – and anyone who’s been to confession knows this – it is important for the Church not only to preach and to instruct but also to listen closely to the words of the sinner, to try to learn his heart, to see Christ in him, and to help him carry his cross. This article, silly and subversive though the student reporter involved may have been, served that purpose. Students found other students, got student opinion, used student labor to compile it into the newspaper, and distributed it to other students. For tiny unformed elementary-school minds, this wouldn’t be appropriate, but for the young adults of middle and high school these are exactly the years when they need to learn both to sharpen their faith like a sword for battle, and also to temper it with understanding and caritas.
The best, most holy response to this article would be the latter. They should not retract it, suppress it, and promise never to let the fears of their gay students ever be heard again, but they should instead respond later on with another article, explaining the Church teaching with painstaking clairty, understanding, and love, advising homosexual students on how to live out their lives according to the Church, and, above all, affirming that Sacred Heart is a safe place to come out of the closet and identify as a gay person living chastely.
This gesture would be all the more powerful if it came from the conservative parents who are currently fighting the article tooth and nail. I hope their battle does not do too much damage to those students whose voices they seek to silence.
Other opinions on this? I know I’m coming down pretty hard on the parents here, and I would appreciate some fraternal correction if I’ve gone too far.
Catholic schools are, of course, obligated to teach the faith, to respond to questions about the faith, to raise their flocks in the faith (primarily through provision of the Sacraments), and to defend the faith when called upon.
In this case, however, we are not looking at an example of the school attacking the Faith or subverting parents’ educational authority or violating canon law. All the school did was provide a forum whereby some students – students, not teachers, not administrators – were able to express their feelings, their reactions, their life in the Catholic faith at Sacred Heart, both to fellow students and the administration of the school. This is not a comfortable thing, because these particular students’ opinions and experiences of Catholic life ranged from false at best to tragic and saddening at worst. But it is an important part of the Christian life – and anyone who’s been to confession knows this – it is important for the Church not only to preach and to instruct but also to listen closely to the words of the sinner, to try to learn his heart, to see Christ in him, and to help him carry his cross. This article, silly and subversive though the student reporter involved may have been, served that purpose. Students found other students, got student opinion, used student labor to compile it into the newspaper, and distributed it to other students. For tiny unformed elementary-school minds, this wouldn’t be appropriate, but for the young adults of middle and high school these are exactly the years when they need to learn both to sharpen their faith like a sword for battle, and also to temper it with understanding and caritas.
The best, most holy response to this article would be the latter. They should not retract it, suppress it, and promise never to let the fears of their gay students ever be heard again, but they should instead respond later on with another article, explaining the Church teaching with painstaking clairty, understanding, and love, advising homosexual students on how to live out their lives according to the Church, and, above all, affirming that Sacred Heart is a safe place to come out of the closet and identify as a gay person living chastely.
This gesture would be all the more powerful if it came from the conservative parents who are currently fighting the article tooth and nail. I hope their battle does not do too much damage to those students whose voices they seek to silence.
Other opinions on this? I know I’m coming down pretty hard on the parents here, and I would appreciate some fraternal correction if I’ve gone too far.
O
OraLabora
Guest
Wowbagger, I think you’re spot on. I’ve never been a fan of censorship. Keeping the gritty reality of life hidden does little to save souls. On the other hand I read in the article many misconceptions from the gay students about Church teaching, where they say that the Church somehow proclaims it’s bad to be gay, when the reality is quite different. This article could be a great teaching opportunity about the loving aspects of the faith, about how being homosexual is most emphatically not a sin, or justify discrimination, and about the freedom that chastity offers to all Catholics, not just homosexuals.
Moreover such an article is not going to cause non-homosexuals to become homosexuals.
The students in the article expressed some very real and legitimate fears that come from a misunderstanding of Church teaching. It’s a clear call to clarifying that teaching and insisting that gay students not face discrimination.
Moreover such an article is not going to cause non-homosexuals to become homosexuals.
The students in the article expressed some very real and legitimate fears that come from a misunderstanding of Church teaching. It’s a clear call to clarifying that teaching and insisting that gay students not face discrimination.
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ncstevem
Guest
is that the homosexual agenda has not only infected all areas of secular life but also all areas of the Catholic Church.
It is likely that the faculty advisor as well as the principal agree with the homosexual agenda by their allowing the article to be published as well as their response to the parents. Parents should know based on recent history that sending your children to any ‘Catholic’ school will more often than not undermine the Catholic Faith rather than support it.
It is likely that the faculty advisor as well as the principal agree with the homosexual agenda by their allowing the article to be published as well as their response to the parents. Parents should know based on recent history that sending your children to any ‘Catholic’ school will more often than not undermine the Catholic Faith rather than support it.
J
JHow
Guest
I doubt they agree as much as they don’t have the spine to not allow the article. It is very easy to throw the “bigot” charge and watch the opposition melt away.…It is likely that the faculty advisor as well as the principal agree with the homosexual agenda …
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ncstevem
Guest
that the school employees and the diocesan employees who brushed off the parent’s concerns did so out of a fear of being labeled bigots. More likely they agree with the homosexual agenda. The Boston diocese has not exactly been a bastion of Catholic orthodoxy for the last 50 years.
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JHow
Guest
It’s entirely possible they support the agenda.that the school employees and the diocesan employees who brushed off the parent’s concerns did so out of a fear of being labeled bigots. More likely they agree with the homosexual agenda. The Boston diocese has not exactly been a bastion of Catholic orthodoxy for the last 50 years.
I’ve just seen a lot of good people cowed because they don’t know how to respond to this tactic.
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RobHom
Guest
It seems to me that the people entrusted to make adult decisions as to what happens in the school abdicated their responsibilities and did so willfully.
The article being made a part of a school newspaper was improper. There was nothing socially or academically redeeming about the article and it may have actually done more damage to the students who purportedly authored it. If you are “different” in a particular environment…it is not particularly wise to bring possible negative attention to yourself, just as it is to “anonymously” complain and appeal for “tolerance and acceptance” as though it is owed to you for whatever reason. The anonymity of the authors causes far more disturbance in a school setting than might meet the eye… Now every one of those kids are wondering “who” are the gay kids…and some who were completely oblivious are now wide awake at the wheel and seeking “targets” for sinister fun and games or worse.
Sadly…discretion is not something often learned at an early age…
Frankly, the responses on the part of the administrators named was pathetic…and were I one of the people who was paying tuition… I would be raising a significant ruckus and making sure that all parents there know what milquetoast wimps the administration is and and would probably seek to have them replaced or pull my kids out of the school.
I am a rather tolerant person, and frankly I don’t get too wound up when it is me involved… but when it involves children…things change. And the school’s administrators failed in their responsibilities miserably!
The article being made a part of a school newspaper was improper. There was nothing socially or academically redeeming about the article and it may have actually done more damage to the students who purportedly authored it. If you are “different” in a particular environment…it is not particularly wise to bring possible negative attention to yourself, just as it is to “anonymously” complain and appeal for “tolerance and acceptance” as though it is owed to you for whatever reason. The anonymity of the authors causes far more disturbance in a school setting than might meet the eye… Now every one of those kids are wondering “who” are the gay kids…and some who were completely oblivious are now wide awake at the wheel and seeking “targets” for sinister fun and games or worse.
Sadly…discretion is not something often learned at an early age…
Frankly, the responses on the part of the administrators named was pathetic…and were I one of the people who was paying tuition… I would be raising a significant ruckus and making sure that all parents there know what milquetoast wimps the administration is and and would probably seek to have them replaced or pull my kids out of the school.
I am a rather tolerant person, and frankly I don’t get too wound up when it is me involved… but when it involves children…things change. And the school’s administrators failed in their responsibilities miserably!
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